Students Proprietary Rights to Coursework

Students maintain the proprietary rights to any copyrightable or patentable academic work submitted in partial or full completion of course requirements. Such copyrightable or patentable works may include but are not limited to literary works, such as pamphlets, books, computer programs, manuscripts, and poems; musical works; dramatic works; pantomimes and choreographed works; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audio visual works; sound recordings; and architectural works.

For faculty to use a student’s copyrightable or patentable work in other venues or distribute to a third party, the faculty must secure the student’s written permission to do so, unless such use constitutes “fair use” under applicable law. Should a student request the return of any copyrightable or patentable work the third-party use of which is not protected by the doctrine of “fair use,” faculty members will make every effort to comply with such request. Faculty maintains the right to document the request and maintain a record of the work in a suitable format, which includes but is not limited to pictures of the work, copies of the work, and a written description of the work.

DEFINITION OF COPYRIGHTABLE WORK

A copyrightable work is that which is afforded copyright protection rights under applicable law.

DEFINITION OF PATENTABLE WORK

A patentable work is that which is afforded patent protection rights under applicable law.